WO2012103877A1

WO2012103877A1 - Method for treating human or animal hair and apparatus for carrying out the method

Info

Publication number: WO2012103877A1
Application number: PCT/DE2012/000091
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dirk Wandke; Matthias Kopp; Karl-Otto Storck; Maximilian Segl; Leonhard Trutwig; Johannes Scharf
Original assignee: Cinogy Gmbh
Priority date: 2011-02-02
Filing date: 2012-01-27
Publication date: 2012-08-09
Also published as: EP2670903A1; US20130306100A1; DE102011010273A1; US9038645B2; EP2670903B1

Abstract

In order to treat human or animal hair fixedly arranged on a support, the hair is divided into strands. The divided strands are subjected to a dielectric plasma treatment by drawing an apparatus connected to a high voltage source (8) through the strands. The apparatus can be in the form of tongs or have a comb-like structure.

Description

Method for treating human or animal hair and device for carrying out the method The invention relates to a method for the treatment of human or animal hair fixed on a support.

The invention further relates to a device for carrying out the method.

There are numerous treatments of hair known, which is fixedly arranged on a support. The carrier may be a suitable tissue of a wig or a hairpiece, but also the human or animal skin. In particular, when the hair is attached to the associated human or animal body and is supplied by the body, it can acquire growth and its structure of function ("living hair"). The treatments of the hair include washing treatments that remove impurities from the hair and, if necessary, disinfect it. It is also known to dye hair with chemical agents, to prepare for a dyeing or to modify its structure so that they assume a desired shape, such as curls form. Such methods can be applied using heat, but also at ambient temperature with the use of chemical agents.

From EP 0 592 979 A1 it is known to modify the surface of animal hair by a plasma treatment in order to make the hair more suitable for subsequent coloring. However, these are cut-off animal hairs that are treated in a plasma chamber with a plasma excitable by a plasma to a Flimmentladung gas. Such a treatment is naturally not suitable for the still fixed to a carrier, in particular for the still living on the body hair.

CONFIRMATION COPY It is an object of the present invention to enable the treatment of human or animal hair fixed on a carrier for improving the surface properties, in particular for preparing a subsequent chemical treatment.

To achieve this object, it is provided according to the invention in a method of the type mentioned above that the hair is subjected to strands and that the divided strands are subjected to a dielectric plasma treatment by pulling through a device connected to a high voltage source.

The method according to the invention enables the treatment of uncut human or animal hair by a dielectrically hindered plasma treatment. As a result, the advantages which can be achieved with a plasma treatment can be achieved in a simple manner with a hair fixedly arranged on the support, in particular with living hair. These advantages are in particular the increased absorption capacity of the hair, for example for a dye, in a disinfecting effect, etc.

In a first embodiment of the inventive method the divided strand between two is pincer-like control ^"angeordne- ten flat electrodes, which are covered to streak out by means of in each case a dielectric. The electrodes are connected to a high voltage source, which is in particular a high-frequency AC voltage source. Between the The hair strand is pulled lengthwise through the device, with the high voltage field between the electrodes, in the state in which both levers of the forceps are pressed against each other slightly is available. Due to the dielectrics that cover the electrodes towards the strand, the current flow is limited so that, for example, a spark discharge can not take place. Rather, in the interspace between the dielectrics in which the hairs are located, the air present there is ionized, so that the plasma is formed there. The surface of the hair drawn between the electrodes covered with the dielectrics is modified by the plasma thus formed. In this way, for example, the entire main hair of a human being can be treated in strands by the way of a plasma.

In one embodiment of the method according to the invention, the hair is split into strands by means of a comb-like structure with tines running parallel to one another, wherein the tines are formed with a conductive core which is surrounded on all sides by a dielectric and connected to the conductive core by a high voltage source. The tines can together form an electrode of the high-voltage source, while the body carrying the hair, preferably near the treated area of the hair, is connected to a reference potential, for example in the form of a counterelectrode. The hairs may then form the counterelectrode for the active electrode of the high voltage source formed by the prongs because of their connection to the body itself. The counterelectrode is preferably placed at ground potential.

However, preference is given to an arrangement in which the tines are connected individually alternately or in groups alternately with two different terminals of a high voltage source, so that different potentials result between adjacent tines. The hairbrushes split between the tines! is subjected to a plasma treatment between the tines. fen. By the teeth of the comb parallel hair strands are formed, which are thus subjected to the passage of the comb-like structure through the hair simultaneously and in parallel to the plasma treatment.

A device for carrying out the method according to the above-mentioned first embodiment is inventively characterized in that it is formed with a pincer-shaped device body with two levers, with which a split strand of hair detectable and between opposing contact surfaces of the lever is feasible and that the contact surfaces are each formed by a dielectric, which in each case covers a surface electrode which can be connected to a high-voltage source and is arranged on one of the levers. In this case, the electrodes are preferably embedded in the dielectric, that is to say surrounded by the dielectric on all sides and led out of the dielectric only with a current lead. The dielectrics in this case form contact surfaces, which are smooth in one embodiment of the invention, while they are provided in another embodiment of the invention with projections and grooves to divide a split strand still in part strands in the longitudinal direction of the lever of the forceps-shaped housing body.

An apparatus for performing the method according to the above-mentioned second embodiment is inventively characterized in that it comprises a comb-like device body with parallel tines, that the tines are formed with a conductive, all around with a dielectric surrounding core and that the conductive cores a high voltage source are connected.

In this case, preferably, the dielectric surrounding the tines is formed as a coherent one-piece layer. According to the invention, therefore, the plasma treatment of hair by pulling a comb-like structure through the hair or by pulling a strand of hair between bearing surfaces of two levers of a pliers-like device, as it is spielsweise for the smoothing of frizzy hair, made. The plasma treatment can therefore be done with familiar movements for each human, so no new skills must be learned to use the devices of the invention.

The frequencies used for the plasma treatment for the alternating high voltage are usually between 1 Hz and 100 MHz. The exposure times of the plasma treatment depend on the field of application and can range from a few milliseconds over several minutes to a few hours.

The high voltages can have a peak value between 100 and 100,000 V. The applied voltage can be sinusoidal or pulsed (unipolar or bipolar). It is also a plasma treatment with a DC voltage possible. Of course, all forms of tension can be combined with each other.

The electrodes, in the form of the planar electrodes of the forceps-shaped device body or in the form of the conductive cores of the teeth, are made of electrically highly conductive materials. If the high voltage is applied between the electrodes of the device, the electrodes may be formed of identical material. However, it is also conceivable to use the carrier of the hair as a counterelectrode, in which case the carrier of the hair is in particular also the human or animal body or the skin. The distance of the tines of the comb-like structure can range between 0, 1 to 5 mm. The same order of magnitude applies to the grooves which extend on the surface of the dielectric transverse to the longitudinal direction of the forceps-like structure.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawing. Show it:

Figure 1 is a side view of an apparatus in a first embodiment, which is designed as a pair of pliers with two levers, which are shown in the open state, wherein the supply line is shown in each case one arranged on the two levers arranged electrodes.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the device according to

FIG. 1; Figure 3 is a side view of the device of Figure 1 in the closed state;

FIG. 4 is a graphical representation of the curves of the high voltages applied to the two electrodes;

Figure 5 shows a second embodiment of an inventive

Device corresponding to the device according to Figure 1, wherein only the electrodes are connected differently;

FIG. 6 is a graphic representation of the voltages supplied to the electrodes;

FIG. 7 shows a third exemplary embodiment of a device of the type shown in FIG

1 shown, but facing each other bearing surfaces are provided with transverse grooves; a side view of the device according to Figure 7 in the open state; a side view of the device according to Figure 7 in the closed state; a perspective view of a device in a fundamentally different embodiment with a device body and pointing parallel to each other comb-like prongs, the device is supplied with voltage waveforms of Figure 4; a device according to Figure 10, which is operated with voltage waveforms of Figure 6; a schematic representation of a possible in all embodiments, the type of connection of the device with the high voltage source.

According to FIGS. 1 to 3, a device in a first embodiment consists of a forceps-shaped device body 1 which has two one-armed levers 2, 3, which are pivotably connected to one another at a common axis of rotation 4, the opening movement of the two levers 2, 3 is limited to each other on the opening angle shown in Figures 1 and 2. The two levers 2, 3 are formed as hollow housing parts, which contain in their interior a current guide 5, 6, which are connected to a supply cable 7 of the device. The supply cable 7 is connected to a high voltage source 8.

About half of the length of the levers 2, 3 are - starting from their free ends 9 - provided on the mutually facing sides, each with a recess 10, in each of which a dielectric kum 1 1, 12 is used. The dielectric 1 1, 12 consists of a non-conductive material, preferably made of glass, ceramic or plastic with dielectric properties. In the two dielectrics 1 1, 12 each have an electrode 13, 14 embedded. The electrode 1 3 is connected to the current lever 5 extending in the same lever 2, while the electrode 14 is connected to the current guide 6. Since the electrodes 1 3, 14 through the dielectrics 1 1,. 12 are insulated from each other, a current flow between the two electrodes 13, 14 is hindered.

The dielectrics 1 1, 12 have on the mutually facing sides planar contact surfaces 15, 16, with which the dielectrics in the closed state of the forceps-shaped device body 1 (see Figure 3) are adjacent to each other. The abutment surfaces protrude somewhat from the corresponding surfaces of the levers 2, 3 outside the recess 10, so that the abutment surfaces 15, 16 come to bear directly when the device body 1 is closed.

In the embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, both electrodes 1 3, 14 are connected to an AC voltage connection of the high-voltage source 8. In this case, however, the two alternating voltage signals are phase-shifted by 180 ° to each other, as shown in Figure 4 on the basis of sinusoidal high-voltage signals with a peak voltage Us. Between the electrodes 13, 14 thus results in a resulting AC voltage with a maximum voltage of 2 Us.

The peak voltages Us can be between 1 00 and 00 000 V. The voltage may be sinusoidal - as shown in Figure 4, but pulse-shaped (unipolar or bipolar) in the form of high frequency pulses - be formed. As Figure 2 illustrates, the electrodes 13, 14 may be formed in a preferred embodiment as a grid, which is advantageous in particular when entering the electrodes 13, 14 in a thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic as a dielectric 1, 12, since the plastic the grid openings of the electrodes 13, 14 can distribute in liquid form and thus ensures a good embedding of the electrodes 13, 14 in the dielectrics 11, 12. The embodiment shown in Figure 5 agrees with respect to the device body 1 and the formation of the electrodes 13, 14 and the dielectrics 1 1, 12 with the embodiment according to Figures 1 to 3 match. However, the supply cable is here connected to a high voltage source 8 such that one electrode 13 is connected to an alternating voltage while the other electrode 14 is at ground potential. Thus, a change of the potential with the maximum voltage Us or -Us results between the two electrodes 13, 14 in this case. In use, a split strand, such as the head hair of a human, between the contact surface 15, 15 of the lever 2, 3 placed and held between the pressed against each other levers 2, 3. By pulling the device body 1 away from the scalp of the person, the hairs of the hair strand are pulled longitudinally through the device, the electrodes 13, 14 of which are connected to the terminals of the high voltage source 8. In this way, formed between the dielectrics 1 1, 12 a plasma by ionized air, with which the hair between the dielectrics 11, 12 and the electrodes 13, 14 are treated.

By a corresponding separation of numerous strands in succession, for example, the entire head hair of a person can be treated. But it is also conceivable, the hair only in to treat each other strands complained of, for example, to prepare a straggly coloring of the hair or effect. In the case of the further embodiment of a treatment device shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the device body 1 and the electrodes 13, 14 correspond to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIG. 5, respectively. Only the dielectrics 11, 12 have here contact surfaces 15 ', 16', which are formed by alternately arranged protrusions 17 and grooves 18. The projections 17 and grooves 18 extend transversely to the longitudinal direction of the levers 2, 3, so that the grooves 18 are aligned so that when pulling the device away from the person's scalp, the hair can slide through the grooves 18. The projections 17 can thus effect a further subdivision of the separated strand of hair and thus intensify the plasma treatment.

Figure 9 illustrates that in the closed state of the device through the grooves 8 transverse openings 19 are formed, can be pulled through the separated from the strands hair tufts.

It is readily apparent that the device according to FIGS. 7 to 9 can also be connected to the high-voltage source 8 according to FIG. 4 or else according to FIG.

In the apparatus shown in Figures 10 and 1, the supply cable 7 of the high voltage source 8 leads into a flat, elongate device body 21 which carries on its longitudinal side numerous prongs 22 which extend parallel to each other and protrude from the device body 21 by a predetermined amount. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, the tines 22 all protrude out of the device body 21 with an equal length. There the edge of the device body 21, from which protrude the tines 22, is rectilinear, thus forming a straight line on which all tines 22 end. But it is also possible with the free ends of the prongs 22 form a curved and possibly multiple curved line by the prongs 22 protrude from a straight edge of the device body 21 in different lengths or the edge of the device body 21 itself is formed curved accordingly.

The tines 22 each consist of a protruding from the device body 21 pin-shaped conductive core 23 which is surrounded on all sides by a dielectric 24 to the device body 21. Between the tines 22 intermediate spaces 25 are formed which correspond to a larger distance between conventional tine combs. When pulling the device with the tines 22 by, for example, hairs of a human, these are divided into the spaces 25 between the tines 22 into small strands. In a preferred embodiment, in the device body 21 there are two current guides 26, 27, to which the cores 23 of the tines 22 are connected in two groups, each parallel to one another. In a preferred embodiment, each second prong 22 is connected to the current guide 26, while the respective intermediate prongs 22 are connected to the current guide 27. It follows that adjacent tines 22 abut the different potential of the high voltage source 8.

But it is also possible to train the groups in another way. For example, each two adjacent tines to connect to the same power supply 26 and left and right of these two prongs 22 each two prongs to connect to the other power guide 27. It is also conceivable to use two ken with a potential and the respective adjacent tines to connect with the other potential, so that in succession an arrangement of 2-1 -2-1 ... tines result, the two tines each 22 with the first current guide 26 and the respective individual Prong 22 is connected to the power supply 27. Other combinations of connections are also conceivable.

The cores 23 of the tines 22 in these devices form the electrodes, which are each surrounded by the dielectric 24, so that the current flow between the electrodes 23 is hindered by the dielectrics 24.

The exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 10 and 11 in turn differ in terms of the connections to the high-voltage source 8 as shown in FIG. 4 (compare FIG. 10) or FIG. 6 (see FIG.

FIG. 12 shows another connection possibility for a device according to the invention, which consists in that the cores 23 of the tines 22 forming the electrodes are all connected to the same connection of the high voltage source 8, preferably to the AC voltage connection according to FIG In this case, the carrier of the hair, that is, for example, a wig tissue or the hair-bearing skin of a living being, can be set to a reference potential with a counter-electrode 28, wherein the reference potential is preferably ground.

In this case, the carrier of the hair or the hair connected to the carrier forms the counter electrode 28 to the electrodes 23 of the treatment device. Such an arrangement is also possible for a zangegenförmiges Behandlungsiungsgerät according to Figures 1 to 9 and used in certain applications with advantage. With all devices shown in the drawing, a plasma treatment of the surface on a carrier fixedly arranged hairs can thus be carried out in a simple manner.

Claims

claims

A method for the treatment of human or animal hair fixed to a wearer, characterized in that the hair is divided into strands and that the divided strands are subjected to a dielectric plasma treatment by pulling a device connected to a high voltage source (8) through the strand.

A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the divided strand between two tong-like arranged planar electrodes (13, 14) is detected, which are covered towards the strand by means of a respective dielectric (11, 12).

A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the division of the hair into strands by means of a comb-like structure with mutually parallel tines (22) that the tines (22) with a conductive, on all sides with a dielectric (24) surrounding ^" core ( 23) are formed and connected to the conductive cores (23) with a high voltage source (8).

Device for carrying out the method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is formed with a forceps-shaped device body (1) with two levers (2, 3), with which a split strand of the hair detectable and between opposing abutment surfaces (16). the lever (2, 3) and that the abutment surfaces (16) are each formed by a dielectric (11, 12) which in each case has a surface electrode (13, 14) which can be connected to a high-voltage source (8) and is arranged on one of the levers (2, 3) ) covers.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that the electrodes (13, 1.4) are embedded in the associated dielectric (11, 12). 6. Apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the electrodes (13, 14) of the two levers (2, 3) each having different voltages of the high voltage source (8) can be supplied. 7. Apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the electrodes (13, 14) of the two levers (2, 3) are connected to the same pole of the high voltage source (8) and can be supplied with identical voltages and that a counter electrode (28) is provided for connection to the electrically conductive carrier of the hair.

8. Apparatus for carrying out the method according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that it comprises a comb-like device body (21) with mutually parallel tines (22) that the tines (22) with a conductive, on all sides with a dielectric (24 ) are formed surrounding core (23) and that the conductive cores (23) are connected to a high voltage source (8). 9. Apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that the tines (22) surrounding the dielectric (24) is formed as a continuous one-piece layer.

0. Apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the prongs (22) alternately to different voltages of the high voltage source (8) for forming a plasma between adjacent prongs (22) are connectable. 1 . Apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the tines (22) to identical voltages of the high voltage source (8) can be connected and that a counter electrode (28) is provided for connection to the carrier of the hair.